These are the key players who had synergy with LaMelo Ball last year. Knueppel and Bridges shot markedly better on passes from him vs from Coby White. Miller was the opposite. But shot quality was higher for all on passes from Ball.

The Spurs hot starts vs the Knicks steady climb back, by quarter. - Towns is at his best in Q2/3 - Wemby does well in Q1, struggles in Q2 - OG is Q4 hero

Series MVP after each game - It was KAT after each of the first three games - Now it's OG, who was 2nd after G 3 espnanalytics.com/nba-award-le...

The Spurs shot quality was 44% in the second half. It was the lowest they've posted in any half all year long. (GeniusIQ, QSQ)

Echoing Greeny's point on Get Up, Josh Hart came out just ahead of KAT as having the most net points last night...despite scoring only 3 points. espnanalytics.com/nba-box?id=2...

If you like sports data, be sure to check out espnanalytics.com @deanolytics.bsky.social @sethwalder.bsky.social and the entire ESPN Analytics team have put together some very cool and insightful data products.

The original reference for stats and lampposts was this from Andrew Lang: "Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination." I try to use stats for illumination. It actually bugs me when people look to stats only for support.

Since the Knicks' players-only meeting on January 19, the Knicks' starters improved a lot on defense. Brunson declined some on offense, but was overall improved.

From the time the Spurs were up 8 in Q1 to the end of Q2 when OKC was up 11, this is the list of contributors. Caruso had most of his value in that run.

In the halfcourt, Wemby's matchups are shooting 19/37 from 3 in this series (GeniusIQ). He's obviously contributing in other ways on D, but that is relevant. Most of that is Caruso, with some Wallace. In SA wins, the team allows an 86 DRTG with him on. In losses, it's 118.

If the Thunder had won the series 3-2, Alex Caruso would be the MVP. But it's not over. espnanalytics.com/nba-award-le...

The Knicks' starters last night all had positive Net Pts on both sides of the ball. That happened in 27 other games across the league this year. The Knicks have 6 of those 28, most in the league, all but one since February Their starters are gelling. espnanalytics.com/nba-box?id=2...

Last night's Hero, MVP, LVP, Cleanup Crew, Glass Cleaner. With the injuries, though, we may need to add awards for the trainers, who do an amazing job and usually quietly. We'll see who can play next game. espnanalytics.com/nba-box?id=2...

I found this quote from SGA interesting: "Every team has their identity. And when they impose their identity more than the other team does, they usually win." "Identity" = things you do well enough that you can fall back on them. Good teams spend a long while building that.

Last night was the Spurs worst defensive game of the playoffs. Not for lack of effort, for sure. It wasn't transition or putbacks, it was halfcourt. Worst G vs HC 2s 4th worst vs 3s 2nd worst DREB 3rd worst TOVs espnanalytics.com/nba-team-4FA...

Last night, Wemby allowed 7/10 shooting and 6 three-pointers to Alex Caruso (per GeniusIQ) and he *still* had +5.3 defensive net points, which is in the top 1% of all player games. That is crazy help defense. espnanalytics.com/nba-box?id=2...

Awards from yesterday: - Sam Merrill and Evan Mobley each had their 3rd best game of the year - Donovan Mitchell had his season high in passing net points yesterday with +3.1 - Jalen Duren had 6 of his worst 12 games in the playoffs espnanalytics.com/nba-box?id=2...

These are the most inconsistent players in the playoffs, using +2 and -2 net points as delineation of good, average, and bad. - Highlighted players are still alive - Donovan Mitchell and De'Aaron Fox have been noticeably inconsistent - the first OKC player is at #81.

This is the net points timeline for last night's game - You can see Wemby's first quarter burst - See Keldon Johnson in the second half of Q3 - See De'Aaron Fox, mostly for comparison

Best and worst awards for the OKC win over the Lakers. - Ajay Mitchell gets MVP and Heater of the game - SGA gets the Contact Artist award - LeBron's double-double doesn't make the list espnanalytics.com/nba-box?id=2...

Donovan Mitchell's Q3 was the second best Q in the playoffs, best offensive Q, producing +10.2 Net Pts overall and +9.1 on offense. But... Mitchell actually did it in under 8 minutes and it was the best performance in a Q per minute all year (minimum 10 possessions). That's a steep yellow line

Embiid's perfect night shooting in combination with a +/- of -24 is rare. I found one case of at least 6 FGM&A, 20+ mins, and a worse +/- (Clint Capela, 2/11/22) in the last 8 years. The avg Net Pts for these players was +6.4. Embiid +1.4. Capela -4.0. espnanalytics.com/nba-box?id=2...

The NBA Draft Lottery is May 10. The NBA Draft Lottery *simulation* is right now. You can have it play out randomly and see the chances of different teams getting high picks. Or you can control the lottery. espnanalytics.com/nba-draft-lo...

Simulating the NBA Draft Lottery. The real one is May 10, but you can see the odds count down in this version. You can use this one on lottery day to see the odds change. www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

OG Anunoby played 44 possessions in non-garbage time last night and had +15.7 total net points. - At +36.1, it was the most net points per 100 possessions in non-garbage time all year - Next best in playoffs is +23.0 (Paolo v CHA) - Next best overall is +35.0 (Grayson 11/10)

In terms of points off live turnovers, the Cavs survived one of the worst games this year, allowing 19 points off 8 live turnovers.

Yesterday's MVP, LVP, Spark Plug, Stopper, Hot Potato, and more espnanalytics.com/nba-daily-su...

In the NBA, the leading scorer for the team that wins a game averages +6.1 net points in that game. Just +1.7 for the leading scorer on the losing team. 95% of leading scorers on the team that won the game had positive net points Only 68% of leading scorers on losing teams did.

In the regular season, Cleveland won 83% of their games when Donovan Mitchell had positive net points. They won just 23% when he didn't. Last night, he was slightly negative and they won. espnanalytics.com/nba-box?id=2...

Watching the Q4 unraveling of the Celtics was fascinating. It was everyone, maybe a little more Brown. It was a slow train wreck. For Philly, Grimes, Maxey, and Embiid carried them steadily upwards.

Yesterday's heroes, MVPs, LVPs, juggernauts, and contact artists. espnanalytics.com/nba-daily-su...

Yesterday's best and worst - Jamal Cain appropriately got Rim Shaker. His dunk was after Detroit totally disrespected him on the inbounds. - As facilitators, Jokic went from #109 to #28, Cade went from #108 to #121. espnanalytics.com/nba-daily-su...

You can debate whether these last three games are Jokic's worst in a stretch. I went back to see if he had more than 3 bad games in a row and found one... right before the COVID pause. espnanalytics.com/nba-player-g...

Yesterday's best and worst. espnanalytics.com/nba-daily-su...

Just more stats about how incredible Wembanyama is: In his career, Wemby has led the league every year in effective FG% allowed on shots that he has contested. He has allowed 28% on shots he has contested. Next best (among those with 600 contests) is 32% (J Isaac).

Collin Murray-Boyles posted a team-best +5.3 net points in yesterday's win over Cleveland. Including playoffs, CMB has been the best rookie since January 1 on a per-minute basis, mostly on the strength of really good defense, like yesterday.

Summary of the Spurs-Blazers game by quarter

If you want to see how NBA players are doing in the playoffs, you can get their net points values from this page. Set it to playoffs and change the date as appropriate. You can do totals, per-gane, or per 100 possessions. espnanalytics.com/nba-award-le...

In recent years, Rudy Gobert's defense has taken a hit in the playoffs as teams played 5-out, drawing him from the middle. So far, Denver hasn't been able to solve Gobert as he has posted the most defensive net points in the playoffs. espnanalytics.com/nba-award-le...

As with Detroit's shocking loss, Boston's loss in G2 had a couple unusual player performances - White's 3rd worst game of the year - Pritchard's 2nd worst - VJ Edgecombe's 5th best

Yesterday's best and worst.

The awards for good and bad in the Atlanta 1-point victory over the Knicks. espnanalytics.com/nba-box?id=2...

Jalen Brunson does really well on offense at the *end of quarters*. He has the biggest difference in the league between his offense at the end of quarters (+7.3 Net Pts/100) vs at the start (-0.3).

In Game 1, the Magic had +11.8 offensive net points in transition, their 2nd best of the year. It was the Pistons' defensive worst of the year. In Game 2, Orlando's offense had -4.4 in transition, their fifth worst. It was the Pistons' defensive best of the year. espnanalytics.com/nba-team-4FA...

The 13-point advantage for the Hawks in Q4, broken down by who added (or subtracted) how much?

The Rockets had 21 offensive boards to the Lakers' 3 in Game 1. The Rockets lost, of course. I looked at how often a team outrebounded their opponents by 12+ net points and it was 75%. On the other hand, the Lakers won shooting by 30 net pts. Teams doing that won 100% this yr.

Overshadowed by Victor Wembanyama, but Deni Avdija had a good playoff debut, too, last night. espnanalytics.com/nba-box?id=2...

Jay Bilas keeps calling Tyrese Maxey a Speed Merchant. We called him "Speed Demon" in our rankings of best transition offensive players. espnanalytics.com/nba-award-le...

Stephon Castle got a lot better on offense this year. Here's how. - Half court 3s, where he went up 5% - Smaller effect: layups and FTs - Putback opportunities and transition both up - More assists were offset by more turnovers